Let's get real--this is said over, and over again, and I've never bought it. I won't go into the mind of the typical pre-med student, but being altruistic is not a trait I have seen in U.S. Medical students, and their sense of altruism doesn't improve with age.
It's a short article, and I honestly didn't read it closely, but I'd rather have it titled "How many lives does a doctor improve?"
There are a few questions I ask myself, whenever I meet a new doctor, and it's these; "What is this doctor's estimated kill card(the patients who died under their care), and does this doctor make conditions worse?"
I do take external factors into account when I make this unscientific judgement call; like the doctor's willingness to take on the sickest patients. The socio-economic status of the doctor's patients. The real reason this person became a doctor(it's usually not that hard to figure out on first impressions). I can usually spot the soley financial ones, and run!
(I have met a few altruistic doctors, and will bend over backwards to help them, or make their practice easier. They are appreciated, and respected! They are few and far between these days though? I don't know if the profession changed, or I changed?)